Friends, Not Food
by crematosis
Summary: Steve may be a siren, but that doesn't mean he's going to lure humans to their deaths. Bucky's getting a little tired of Steve's obsession with saving every drowning human he finds.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I have a lot of stuff to do, but I was in the mood for some silliness so I added this to my fill list. God, I'm terrible at multitasking.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on fish or tropical reefs. I did a bit of research, but if I have something wrong, this is an alternate universe so we'll just pretend all these fish are wherever the sirens are.

Steve lounged across his favorite rock, basking in the warm rays of sunlight striking the ocean floor. From his vantage point, he watched schools of fish weaving their way through the reef.

But then the beautiful rays of light warped and the fish darted into hiding.

Glancing up, Steve saw the water churning overhead. That usually meant one thing. Another human had fallen off a boat.

Sure enough, a young man in a lightweight suit tumbled gracelessly through the water, frantically flailing his arms and legs.

Oh lord. A human that couldn't swim. It looked like it was up to Steve to save him.

Steve swam up to him with a quick flick of his powerful tail. "Shh, don't struggle," he said soothingly, pulling the panicky man into his arms. "Don't waste your air."

By now he knew humans didn't understand mer speak. He wasn't sure what the man heard, but he stopped struggling and stared at Steve with wide, entranced eyes.

Steve cupped his hands around the man's face. "I'll help you back to the surface, okay? Just stay close to me." He pressed his mouth to the man's, making sure the human's lungs were filling with the precious air he needed to survive.

When he pulled back, the man looked dazed so Steve quickly prodded him to start swimming upwards. The longer humans were underwater, the quicker they started falling apart. He needed to get the man back to the surface as quickly as possible.

Luckily, the man seemed to be getting the hint and was kicking his feet and moving his arms with Steve helping push him in the right direction.

Suddenly the man jerked out of Steve's grip, opening his mouth in a garbled scream.

Steve's eyes went wide with horror as blood started to fill the water.

No, no, no. This wasn't right. How had the human gotten injured? Steve had been so careful to steer him away from any sharp-

Steve frowned and looked down.

Clint was floating below, ripping into the human's severed left leg with his sharp teeth.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve demanded. "He was a perfectly healthy human. I could have sent him back to his people."

"Well, he's not anymore," Clint said without a trace of remorse. "Might as well finish him off now."

"No, you don't," Steve said firmly. "I'm rescuing him."

"Dude. Humans can't survive with just one leg." Clint gestured around him. "Look at all the blood. He's not going to live much longer. Not long enough to get back to his people. And if we don't eat him, the sharks will."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. As much as it pained him to admit it, Clint was right. "Fine," he snapped. "But next time, kill the human before you start eating him." He fixed his friend with a stern look. "We don't play with our food."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

"I'm so sorry about this," Steve said, stroking a hand over the man's cheek. "But I don't want you to suffer." He grasped the man's head in his hands and with a quick motion, snapped his neck.

"There," Steve said bitterly, swimming away from the floating corpse. "Here's your dead human. You better not waste a single bite."

"Oh, come on," Clint said as he tore off a chunk of thigh. "Humans live such short lives. He would have died soon anyway."

"You don't know that. He was young. He could have had many long years of life still."

"What are we all arguing about this time?" Bucky swam up from his favorite spot under the coral, his long, dark tail slowly flicking side to side.

"Steve got attached to this human," Clint said, gesturing to the remains of the man.

Bucky gave Steve an exasperated look. "You can't keep every human you see."

"I wasn't trying to keep him," Steve insisted. "I was trying to take him back to his kind."

"Well, I'm glad you've finally come to your senses. Humans don't make good pets. Just look at that guy you've got in the cave. He's gone fucking crazy being cooped up like that."

"He's not my pet," Steve said with a sigh. "I'm just taking care of him because he's injured."

When he had found the injured, dark-haired man a week ago, crying and clinging to a piece of driftwood, he had felt sorry for him. There was no boat in sight, no other people nearby he could direct him to. So he had taken him to a cave just off the shore where there was a small swath of land above water. Steve had been really worried about him for a day as the man just laid there on a bed of seaweed, murmuring something that sounded like stains, peppers, and show fur, which made even less sense than normal human speak. He had to be sick and delirious. But then he had started to regain his strength and pace around the cave on his injured leg, muttering to himself and scratching weird marks into the wall with a piece of charred driftwood. Crazy or not, the human was fascinating and Steve liked to watch him.

"You really can't keep him for much longer," Bucky said gently. "He's starting fires in that cave, burning all the fish you give him, and then eating them like that. That can't be healthy."

"Hell no," Clint agreed. "When he gets back to his people they'll be horrified he's eating burned food."

"I know," Steve said. "I'm releasing him back into the wild as soon as his leg's healed." The human wasn't going to be able to swim very well with a bum leg.

"Hopefully they'll take him back as damaged as he is," Clint said. "But, hey, if they throw him back into the water, I'm calling dibs. I've been craving Italian."

"Nobody is going to eat him," Steve said firmly. "Seriously, you guys. How can you think of eating such an amazing creature?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Stevie, honey, you think all humans are amazing."

"Exactly! You've seen the boats they make, haven't you? And the fires on the beach? They may not understand a word we say, but I can see the intelligence in their eyes. They have their own language, their own civilizations. How can we think of them as food?"

Bucky shook his head. "Because we're sirens. We've always eaten people."

"We're carnivores," Clint said patiently. "See?" He bared his teeth. "These babies are made for ripping, tearing, and shredding flesh."

"They're also good for ripping, tearing, and shredding seaweed."

Clint made a face. "How do you expect to maintain all those muscles eating that crap? You're not going to get enough protein."

Steve shrugged. "I've been doing just fine so far. If I really start falling apart I'll start eating fish, but I promise you I'm never eating another human."

Bucky gave Steve a sidelong look. "And fish aren't intelligent creatures?"

"Not as intelligent as humans. And really, I'm not going to eat any fish either if I can help it. They're beautiful creatures, meant to be admired, not eaten."

"Tell that to the sharks," Clint said under his breath.

Bucky and Clint both broke into giggles.

Steve huffed and swam off. It hurt that his friends just didn't understand. But he knew somebody who would.

He surfaced inside the little cave and looked around briefly for the human. As usual, the man was standing up against the wall, scraping his driftwood against the rock to leave little black lines and swirls. The patterns were interesting even if they didn't look like anything.

"Looking good, human," Steve said.

The man dropped his driftwood and rushed over to the water's edge with a welcoming smile.

It was a big change from when Steve had first found him. The man had been frightened and hostile, unwilling to accept any of the fish Steve offered him. But everything had changed when Steve brought him a piece of driftwood to add to the seaweed and algae nest he was making him. The human had immediately started a fire and actually started eating the fish. Within a day, he was limping around, scraping the remains of the driftwood over everything to make the weird markings. Steve was eager to encourage anything that got the human back on his feet so he tried to bring him a few pieces of driftwood every time he checked up on him.

Steve offered up the wood he had found earlier and watched as the human looked them over and separated them out into piles. Some of the wood was used for his scribbles, others were used to light the fires the human was so fond of, and there was still another pile the human had yet to touch. Steve couldn't wait to see what he was going to do with those.

The human put a hand over his stomach and rubbed, one of the few gestures Steve understood. He obligingly dove back under the water and returned with a medium-sized triggerfish.

The human beamed and selected a few of the older pieces of driftwood to start the fire.

Steve lingered, propping his chin in his hands to watch. Fire always made him nervous, but the human seemed totally at ease fanning the flames, totally at ease holding chunks of fish mere inches from the fire.

The whole time he was burning his fish, the human kept up a steady stream of chatter. He was probably explaining important aspects of human culture, telling his life story, or even just talking about the fish. But it was all just gibberish to Steve.

Steve sighed and pillowed his head on his arms. "I wish I could understand you, human."

The human glanced up, pierced a piece of fish with a thin strip of driftwood and held it out to Steve.

Steve shook his head. "I don't eat my food burned. You shouldn't either."

The human insistently offered it again.

Steve sighed. "Okay, fine." He took the driftwood spear from the human's hand and took a bite of the fish.

"Wow," he said. "This actually isn't bad." The texture was totally different than biting into a live fish and that was a little hard to get used to, but the meat was warm and actually had good flavor.

The human raised an eyebrow.

Steve smiled reassuringly. "No, it's pretty good. I take back everything I said about the burnt food."

The human beamed and patted the ground beside him.

Steve frowned. Sirens rarely left the water. Sure, most liked the occasional bask in the sun and some of the wilier sirens positioned themselves on sharp rocks so they could lure humans in with their melodious voices. But Steve's ma had always warned him his scales would dry out if he stayed out of the water too long.

The human patted the spot again.

"If you insist," Steve said. He braced his hands on the shoreline and hauled the rest of his body out of the water.

The human's eyes went wide and he hesitantly reached out a hand towards Steve's tail, eyes flicking up to Steve's face as if asking for permission.

Steve smiled and nodded encouragingly.

The human slowly traced a hand over Steve's tail, keeping up his steady stream of human's touch tickled a little, but Steve held himself still as the human's hands traveled all the way up to his dorsal fin and around to the patch of scales on his chest.

"Totally different from how you look, right?" Steve said. "And I'm sure this is really different." He guided the human's hand to his gills.

The man was momentarily speechless, a look of stunned surprise on his face.

Steve chuckled. "How else do you expect us to breathe underwater? Well, I suppose it's still a surprise for a surface-dwelling human." He pressed his hand against the human's chest. "Your kind is only meant to breathe air. Such a tragedy."

The human blinked and offered Steve another skewer of fish.

"It's okay," Steve said. "The food's for you. I can catch myself another anytime I want."

The human stuck out his bottom lip and gave Steve the most put-upon expression he had ever seen.

"Okay, fine," Steve said. "One more bite."

One bite turned into seven and before Steve knew it, he had eaten almost the entire fish. He groaned at the thought of having to catch another fish, but the human seemed ridiculously pleased.

"Look," Steve said. "I'm sure you feel indebted to me for saving your life, but you don't need to make it up to me by giving me food that I've already caught for you."

The human frowned and cocked his head to one side.

Steve sighed. "Never mind. I'll be back in a minute."

When Steve resurfaced with the second fish, he was surprised to see that the human had made several quick etchings on the floor. There was a great many of them this time, all very different designs. Some were made of intersecting straight lines, some with curves, and others with dots.

The human pointed to them proudly, one by one and then looked up at Steve expectantly.

"Very nice," Steve said. "Your designs are getting more ambitious." With the human regaining strength in his legs, his scrapings were taking up more and more room in the cave each time Steve saw them. A very promising sign for his recovery.

The human scowled and smudged his designs. He started again, carefully scraping the wood across the floor with a look of great concentration on his face. When he finished, there was a crude representation of a smiling face and a fish.

Steve's eyebrows went up. Well, this certainly argued intelligence in humans.

"Yes, the fish was very delicious," he said. He eased the wood out of the human's hand and added a body to the face, complete with fins and tail.

The human grinned widely and added a smiling human figure and a second fish.

"Absolutely," Steve said. He nudged the fish towards the human. "All yours."

While the human toasted his new fish, he chattered away excitedly. Steve was frankly a little excited, too. It was the closest he had ever come to communicating with a human.

The human quickly shoved his fish into his mouth and started more scribbles on the floor.

Some of the shapes were recognizable. There was a pretty good representation of a boat, a bonfire, trees, and human dwellings. But there were also things he didn't recognize. Weird, misshapen creatures and impossibly complicated structures. Either the drawings were bad or there was a lot more to human culture than Steve realized.

Steve started adding his own scratchings. He wasn't doing them any justice, he was sure, but he scratched out a representation of Bucky, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce.

The human added three more human figures. The third was immediately scribbled over, the human muttering darkly under his breath. Whoever this hulking figure was, he was no friend of Steve's human.

Steve gently eased the driftwood out of the human's tightly clenched hands. "It's okay," he said soothingly. "Whoever he is, he can't hurt you here."

"Stain," the human said miserably. "Foe key mar moon deed."

"Sounds rough," Steve said. He patted the human's shoulder. "But it's okay now. You stay with us as long as you need to."

Oh god, Bucky was going to kill him for this.

Steve winced. And Bucky was also going to kill him for being gone for so long.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed your fish," he said quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow." He dove back under the water before the human could distract him further.

As he feared, Bucky was waiting up for him, arms crossed over his chest when Steve arrived at their pod's underwater cave. "You were with that human all day again, weren't you?"

"I'm sorry," Steve said. "But we were actually communicating with each other and I just lost track of time."

Bucky squeezed his eyes shut. "For the last time, Steve, he's just a dumb animal. I know some of the things that come out of his mouth sound almost like words, but he doesn't understand what he's saying. It's all meaningless noise to him."

"He understands the general idea," Steve said stubbornly. "He was showing me human life through images and when I responded, he understood all my drawings."

"Did he really? Did he tell you he understood?"

Steve sighed. "Come on, Buck."

"No, Steve. Just listen to me for a second. You're getting way too invested in this human. The more time you spend with him, the more you convince yourself that he understands everything you say and he's actually making sense when he talks. But no matter how much time you spend with him, he'll still be a stupid human. Promise me that he's getting out of here soon. I can't stand watching you lose your mind any longer."

Steve looked away. "As soon as his leg's healed."

Bucky shook his head. "You'll be saying that for weeks, Steve. 'Oh, he's not strong enough yet. Oh, he's still limping a little.' I'm giving you a week to get him healed and sent back to his kind. If he's still here after that, I'm eating him myself."

Steve sighed. "Okay, I'll take him back to shore next week." God, he was going to miss that human. But hopefully he would be happier back with his own kind.

"Good," Bucky said. "It's getting kind of late so we might as well hunker down for the night."

"Sure," Steve said. It was always safer to be inside the cave by sunset. Too many predators prowled the waters at night. The only sirens out after nightfall were the ones up to no good.

Steve swam into the cave after Bucky. Clint was already inside for the night, sprawled out across his favorite rock, his striped purple tail stuffed inside a crevice. Steve saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye as Natasha swam by, her sleek silvery tail catching the last of the sunlight.

"Bruce here yet?" Steve asked.

"Here," Bruce said from the corner of the cave.

"Oh, hey, Bruce." It was easy to overlook the man sometimes as his lower half blended in so well with the color of the rocks.

"Good," Bucky said. "Everybody's here. Time to turn in for the night." In a quieter voice, he added, "I want to get an early start tomorrow so we can go check out Shipwreck Cove."

"That sounds amazing," Steve said as he pulled Bucky down into their bed of kelp. "I can't wait to spend the whole day exploring with you."

"You sure about that? You don't want to spend the day with your pet human again?"

Steve frowned. "Bucky, come on. You're my best friend in the whole wide ocean. Why wouldn't I want to spend the day with you?"

Bucky shrugged. "You've been spending an awful lot of time with that guy lately. I was beginning to think you forgot about me."

Steve punched his shoulder. "Jerk. How could I ever forget about you? You're on me like a barnacle all the time."

"Would you two cut out the lovers' spats for one night?" Natasha snapped. "Some of us have a long day of hunting planned tomorrow."

Steve sighed. All those poor humans. At least Natasha tended to kill them quickly so they didn't suffer.

"Oh, don't worry," Bucky said cheerfully. "I'll keep his mouth shut."

"Knock it off, jerk," Steve said, shoving away the hand Bucky attempted to clamp over his mouth. The two of them wrestled in the darkness for a moment until Steve managed to pin Bucky down and nip his flank.

Bucky yelped. "Fuck, Steve," he whined. "That hurt."

"I'm sorry," Steve said smugly. "I thought you knew how to keep quiet."

Natasha groaned. "Why did we ever agree to live with these two idiots?"

"Safety in numbers," Bruce said.

"If any sharks show up, they'll get eaten first," Clint said.

Bucky huffed and curled his tail around himself. "Alright, fine, you assholes. We're going to sleep."

Steve patted Bucky's side. "You okay, Buck?"

"No thanks to you, punk." But Bucky reached out a hand to ruffle Steve's hair. "Night, Stevie. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

"Me, too," Steve said fondly. "Jerk."


	2. Chapter 2

After all his talk about wanting to spend the whole day with him, Steve expected Bucky to wake up bright and early to make the most of his time. But when Steve woke up, Bucky was still laying in bed.

Steve nudged him. "Hey, what are you doing laying around? At this rate, we won't get to Shipwreck Cove until noon."

Bucky rolled over and folded his arms over his chest. "We can't go today. Just look outside for yourself. There's a fucking storm going on."

"Darn," Steve said with a sigh. He had really been looking forward to chasing fish through the shipwrecks with Bucky and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the wrecks for interesting human objects. But the storm would whip up the ocean, churning up debris from the ocean floor and reducing visibility. The smaller fish would go into hiding and if the storm got too severe, it would be difficult for larger fish to swim, and even for sirens to be about.

He swam to the mouth of the cave and looked out at the murky water. It was such a sad sight after the beautiful, clear water of yesterday's sunny afternoon. But sudden, tropical storms were all too common in the summer.

"So, are we all sitting around the cave today?" Steve asked.

Usually they were safe in the cave from the worst of the storms. The curved opening of the cave tended to keep the swirling storm water flowing right past. It sucked to be confined inside all day, but they would be safe and there was plenty of seaweed and kelp to sustain them. In fact, it would probably be good for his friends to go without eating meat for the day. Maybe they could learn to appreciate the good food the ocean was growing for them instead of taking innocent lives.

"Nat went out early this morning," Clint said. "Before the storm started."

"She's not going to be able to make it back anytime soon," Bucky said in a low voice. "It looks terrible out there."

Steve's stomach lurched. "Oh no. And she's going to be in the worst of it."

Natasha liked to hunt above the surface, stretched out on across the rocks to accentuate her beauty. The storm was bad under water, but it would be so much worse at the surface.

Before he really realized what he was doing, he was swimming out of the cave, fighting against the ocean current.

"Hey!" Bucky shouted after him. "Where the hell are you going? It's a mess out there."

"I know," Steve shouted back. "I can't leave Natasha out in this stuff. Don't worry about me, I'll be back when I find her."

Realistically, he knew Natasha would be just fine on her own. She was a strong siren, stubborn, determined, fast, with a tail as powerful as a barracuda's. But he couldn't just leave her on her own. She was one of his friends and Steve had never been able to stop himself from stepping in when his friends were in trouble. His friends were all he had at this point.

Natasha's favorite basking rocks were a good ten minutes' swim from their sleeping cave on a good day, but it took a lot longer with Steve fighting the heavy current. When he finally surfaced, he felt slightly tired out from the exertion, but there was no time to take a break.

As he feared, Natasha was atop her favorite rocky outcropping. But instead of lounging across the rocks, she was on her stomach, gripping them for dear life.

"Natasha!" Steve shouted.

She turned to stare at him, the wind whipping her red hair around her face. "Steve? What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you're okay."

Having to shout to be heard above the wind and the waves was annoying, but he didn't want to risk getting any closer and having a powerful wave dash him into the rocks.

"I'm fine," she shouted back, pushing her hair back from her face. "Just watching that ship."

Steve's eyes widened as a sailboat rounded the rocks, the five people on deck desperately fighting to keep it upright. The humans had to be even dumber than Bucky liked to make them out to be if they thought the middle of a storm was a good time to go out on the water. Of course, they could have gotten caught unawares as Natasha had.

Natasha shifted on her rock. "Any moment now," she said. "Go head back to the cave. I'll catch up with you."

"What are you waiting for?" Steve started to say.

But then lightning streaked through the sky, striking the mast of the sailboat. The humans started screaming as the mast caught fire and snapped in two, crashing down onto the deck.

Natasha launched into the water and before Steve realized what he was doing, he was swimming too.

The humans had all tumbled into the water and their boat was slowly sinking. Steve kept his distance from the smoldering wreckage, getting only as close to each human as necessary to tell that they were dead. His heart sank with each body he found.

Those poor humans. What a terrifying way to die.

Steve was about ready to write the whole ship off as lost when he bumped into a single survivor, floating on his back, his eyes barely open.

Steve eased him up onto a piece of wood and gently patted his cheek. "Hey, stay with me, buddy."

The human blinked and his glassy gaze focused on Steve. "I moss a head huron hot," he mumbled dazedly.

"That's it," Steve said encouragingly. "Keep talking."

The human didn't look so good. He was bleeding from his temple and there were scorch marks all over his clothes, which probably meant burns underneath. But Steve was convinced if he could keep the man conscious, he could keep him alive. He wished he could take the man back to the cave with the other human and see if being around his own kind would help the man heal better. But with the storm still raging and the man in the condition that he was, Steve doubted he'd make it.

"I'm really sorry about this," Steve said as he grabbed onto the collar of the man's shirt and started swimming. "I don't know of any other cave close by, but there's a little opening in one of these rocks that should keep you out of the water and protected from the storm." It wouldn't give the human much space to lie down, but it was the best Steve could do at short notice.

With a little finagling, Steve got the human up into the crevice between the rocks, safely on dry land. There was barely enough room for him to sit down beside the human, but Steve pulled his tail as close to his body as he could so he could look the human over.

"So far so good," Steve said. The human was still alive, still conscious and staring at him with a look of disbelief. So obviously he wasn't in immediate danger of dying.

Steve lifted the man's shirt and peered underneath. The burns weren't as bad as he had expected. The shirt was definitely scorched, but the skin underneath was only pink. Maybe, just maybe he could save this human as well.

"Sit tight," Steve said, fighting the gleeful smile that threatened to break out. It was bad form when the human was probably in pain. "I'll get something for that cut."

Steve dove back into the water and resurfaced with a handful of seaweed. He carefully laid strips of seaweed over the cut.

The human grimaced and muttered something under his breath.

"I'm sure it hurts," Steve said soothingly. "But it'll help it heal." The human was lucky he was above water and didn't have to worry about covering his wounds so the sharks wouldn't get to him.

The human leaned his head back against the rocks with a resigned sigh. He didn't try to pull off the seaweed. Which either meant he understood Steve was trying to help of he just didn't have the energy to fight. Steve chose to be optimistic.

"I'll come back tomorrow and check up on you," Steve promised. "Maybe bring you a nice snapper if you're lucky." Snapper was one of Steve's favorite fishes, but it was hard to find so close to the reef. He usually had to travel all the way to Shipwreck Cove. But if the weather cleared up tomorrow, he'd head out with Bucky and bring the human back a fish to celebrate.

Steve was in good spirits as he backed out of the cave.

Right into Natasha.

She folded her arms over her chest and gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look.

Steve cringed. "It's not what it looks like."

"Oh really? It looks like you stuffed another perfectly good human in a cave."

"I had to do it," Steve protested. "He was going to drown."

"That's the point," Natasha said irritably. "Humans drown and die, then we eat them."

"We don't have to," Steve insisted. He spread his arms wide. "Look at all the food that the ocean provides for us. We have everything we need here and yet the rest of you insist on going after humans. Why can't we let them live their lives at peace?"

Natasha shrugged. "We wouldn't be able to eat them if they didn't take their boats into the water. Maybe you should tell your pet people to stay on dry land."

Steve gritted his teeth. "For the last time, they're not-"

"Uh-huh." Natasha delicately pulled the meat off a finger with her teeth. "Just leave some for the rest of us."

Steve tried not to think about the poor sailor who had once been attached to that finger. "I don't have a problem with you eating them if they're already dead. Letting the bodies rot is a waste of good meat. But I don't like it when you guys hunt humans." He jabbed a finger into Natasha's chest. "Especially you. You purposefully lure them into the water to kill them. How is that fair to them? They're trying to mind their own business and enjoy a day above water and you get them crashing their boats into the water so you can justify killing them."

Natasha rolled her eyes and gnawed on another finger joint. "Bucky was right. You're really getting too obsessed with your humans."

Steve sighed. "Again, not mine. Just patching them up and sending them on their way once they're healed."

Instead of teasing him, his friends really should be thanking him for his efforts. If they kept eating every human they saw, they'd eventually run out of their favorite treat. By sending some of the healthier humans back to the surface and back to their families, they'd be able to procreate and continue their species. But his friends were probably too short-sighted to realize that.

Speaking of looking after the humans, he had another one to check up on.

"I'll meet you back at the cave," Steve said curtly. "I've gotta catch a fish."

Natasha sighed. "Steve, come on. I didn't mean it."

"I'm serious," Steve said. "I'm getting a fish. I'll be back after I catch one. Tell the guys not to worry about me."

He hadn't been lying. He was definitely planning on catching a fish. And then he was going to give it to the dark-haired human. But Natasha probably figured that out already. And she was no doubt prepared to tease him for going through all the effort of catching a fish for a human in the middle of a storm when he returned.

After how long it took for him to catch a single, sad specimen of a fish, Steve felt like he deserves every second of teasing. He used to be a better hunter than this.

To Steve's great relief, the storm had barely impacted the cave. When he broke the surface the water was gently lapping against the the shoreline, but the water level in the cave had only risen by an inch or so, which meant most of the human's dry land was still dry. The human apparently didn't share his optimistic outlook. He was crouched in the far corner of the cave, as far away from the water as possible, one of the largest fires Steve had ever seen illuminating his frightened face.

"It's okay," Steve said. "The water doesn't usually rise much further. You're not going to drown."

The human looked unconvinced. He jerked upright at the sound of wind whistling through the cave. The fire flickered a little and he made a distressed sound.

"It's going to be okay," Steve said in his most soothing voice. "I won't let anything happen to you." He shifted a little. "Here, I brought you a fish. A little food in your belly might make everything seem a little less stressful." Steve knew how much worse things seemed if he wasn't getting enough sleep or hadn't had a good meal.

The human refused to move when Steve held the fish out to him.

It was heartbreaking. After the first few days being scared of Steve, the human had always eagerly come down to the water's edge to greet him. It hurt that the human didn't trust that he was trying to help.

Steve swallowed down his own emotions. It wouldn't do any good getting upset in front of the human. He drew an image of a the human holding the fish over the fire. "I know you're hungry. Just imagine how good it'll taste."

The human shook his head and hunkered in closer to the fire.

Well, it looked like Steve was going to have to resort to drastic measures.

"Sorry about this," Steve said as he cleared his throat. He hated the way sirens' songs could manipulate humans and make them feel safe as they were lured to their destruction. But he was going to use his powers to help the human.

He picked a lullaby that his ma had sung to him as a child, describing calm, peaceful waters. Even if the human didn't understand the words, Steve felt certain he could relate to the emotion of the song.

The human gave Steve a look that plainly said he considered this cheating, but the tension started to drain out of his body. By the time the song was over, the human was curled up close to the fire, his eyelids drooping.

Steve smiled and placed the fish on a rock. "It's here whenever you're ready for it."

The human muttered under his breath and waved a hand dismissively.

Steve chuckled. The human's grumpiness wasn't fooling him. In a minute or two, he'd be fast asleep. Hopefully by the time he woke up, the storm would have blown over.

"I'll be back in the morning," Steve said. "And I'll bring you a special surprise." If the shipwreck hadn't entirely gone up in flames, there was bound to be some good pieces of wood he could salvage for the human. And they would be pre-charred. The human was sure to be thrilled about that.

Steve hummed a few notes of the lullaby as he dove back under the water. Humans were surprisingly easy to care for. Not much different than nursing an injured siren back to health. Perhaps if he met some more open-minded sirens he could teach them his techniques. Bruce was much less vicious than the others, preferring already-dead humans instead of killing them himself. The storm would provide him the perfect chance to have a long chat with Bruce about how amazing humans were and how they should be letting them live in peace.

But of course, he couldn't go straight to Bruce because Bucky was waiting for him at the cave's entrance, arms crossed over his chest. Wow, did he look pissed.

Okay, so Steve understood why Bucky would be upset. He tended to worry about him even though Steve was no longer a skinny little fingerling. But he had gone to rescue Natasha. Surely Bucky could see that it had been a necessary risk.

"Bucky," Steve began. "I know you don't like me swimming off into a storm, but you have to understand-"

Bucky glared. "When I told you to get rid of that human, I didn't mean find another one to take his place."

Steve groaned. Natasha had probably told Bucky the news as soon as she arrived back at the cave. She had always been fond of gossip.

"I'm sorry, Buck. He was hurt and I just couldn't-"

"You never can," Bucky said with an aggravated sigh. "You see an injured creature and you just can't swim away. Goddamnit, Steve. Why can't you leave well enough alone?"

"Come on, Buck. They don't deserve to die in agony. Nobody does."

"So we kill them quickly and put them out of their misery. You're seriously the only siren that doesn't understand this concept."

"I understand just fine," Steve said primly. "We're murderers. Monsters."

Bucky groaned. "For fuck's sake, Steve, that's not-"

"No, that's exactly what we're doing. We're killing these magnificent creatures just because we feel like it. We can survive just fine on fish, kelp, and seaweed but some distant ancestor of ours decided it would be great to kill a poor, helpless human and rip him apart. I don't care how long we've been doing it. Just because it's tradition, doesn't make it right. If I'm the only siren with a conscience, so be it."

"You are so overdramatic," Bucky said with an eye roll. "If you want to give up eating human, I won't stop you. You're crazy because human is fucking delicious, but that's your choice."

"I won't eat any creature that looks so much like a siren. It makes me sick."

"They have skin and hair like us and arms, but that's it. They don't have tails, they don't have scales, they don't have fins or nice, sharp teeth. And they don't speak mer. They're just dumb animals." He slung an arm over Steve's shoulder. "I love what a sensitive siren you are. You've always seen the good in others. That's why all us poor orphans have a pod again. But taking in humans is going just a little too far."

Steve ducked under Bucky's arms. "If you say so, Buck."

Bucky sighed. "Come on, Steve. Don't be like that."

"No, it's fine." He swam past Bucky into the cave. "Hey, Bruce. Have you ever seen one of the human's ships get struck by lightning?"

Bruce popped out from behind his favorite rock. "No. What happened? Tell me everything."

Steve grinned. At least someone was interested in listening.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve spent most of the day regaling Bruce with the tale of the lightning strike while Bucky sulked in the corner. Well, it served him right.

"And then it caught on fire?" Bruce said in amazement.

Steve nodded. "Well, boats are made of wood. It's not too surprising."

"A fire in the middle of the ocean," Bruce said wonderingly. "I assume the fire went out as soon as the boat started sinking?"

"Well, not exactly."

Steve described the way the mast snapped in half, the way the boat started splintering, taking care to focus on how frightening it had to be for the poor humans. Bruce wasn't really paying attention to that, intent on hearing just how the boat had burned. But then again, Bruce had always been a little too fascinated with fire for his own good.

"I'd think the humans would be able to put out a fire before the whole ship was consumed," Bruce mused. "After all, they're so used to fires. I've watched them make bonfires on the beach almost every weekend and they always seem so at ease in front of the flames. I've never seen a human walk away without putting out the flames somehow. So why would they let their boat burn down?"

Steve shrugged. "Maybe they can only put out fires that they start."

"Perhaps," Bruce said. "Fire is such a mysterious force."

"Indeed. It destroys wood, keeps humans warm, and if you put fish in the fire, it changes the flavor and the texture."

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

Steve nodded. "I wouldn't have believed it myself, but I tried some of the burnt fish the human made and burnt fish doesn't taste as bad as I thought. It's actually pretty delicious. I'll let you try some next time I feed the human."

"That'll be great," Bruce said enthusiastically.

"For fuck's sake, you two," Bucky growled. "We're not keeping him."

"Nobody said we were," Steve said cheerfully. In a lower voice, he told Bruce, "I have a second human in a cave near Nat's sunbathing rocks. Once this one goes back to his own kind, we can observe the second man."

Bucky groaned. "I fucking hate you, you know."

"You love me," Steve said pleasantly. "Bruce, did you know that humans use burnt sticks to draw representations of each other?"

"Fascinating," Bruce said. "Humans are a remarkably inventive species." His delighted smile started to waver. "If only we could communicate with them and learn more of their ways."

Steve grinned. "Well, as it just so happens-"

"No, goddamnit," Bucky said. "You can't communicate with them. Stop fucking deluding yourself."

"Don't mind him," Steve said. "He's just jealous that I'm making friends with the human. I'll take you to see him tomorrow and you can make friends with him, too."

Bucky let out an aggravated sigh and dropped his head down on his rock.

Steve stared in concern. "Don't hurt yourself, babe."

"I'm fine," Bucky muttered. "You're the crazy one."

Steve patted Bruce's shoulder. "Tomorrow," he promised, and swam over to Bucky. "Seriously, Buck. Are you okay?"

Bucky huffed and curled himself into a ball. "Don't mind me, Steve. Just go and play with your human."

Steve rolled his eyes and draped himself over Bucky. "Don't be jealous, okay? You're my best friend. The human's just here for a little while so can you blame me for wanting to learn all I can about him while he's here?"

"Yes, I can," Bucky muttered into Steve's shoulder. "Do you know how many times your curiosity has fucked us over? 'Oh, let's go explore this abandoned cave' and the next thing you know we're being attacked by Hydra and their pet sharks."

"That was one time."

"And then there was the time you decided you just had to check out that fishing net. Almost got yourself strangled to death."

Steve shrugged. "Well, it might not have been my greatest idea. But we ended up finding Clint so it actually worked out well."

"That remains to be determined." Bucky shot a glare in Clint's direction.

"Hey," Clint protested. "You two pipsqueaks wouldn't have lasted another month on your own. You're damn lucky I came along when I did."

Bucky shrugged. "We'll agree to disagree. But, seriously, Steve. If one out of every two adventures of yours ends in fucking disaster, it's not a good sign."

"This isn't an adventure, Buck. I'm just having a good time hanging out in the cave with the human. How can a friendly conversation be dangerous?"

"Knowing you, you'd find a way," Bucky growled.

Steve cupped his hands around Bucky's face. "It's sweet how much you care. But you can't protect me from everything. I'd never leave the damn cave if I avoided all possible danger. But really, talking to the human should be pretty low on your list of things to freak out about. The human's the one who should actually worry about being in danger."

"I don't freak out," Bucky muttered.

Steve gave him a look and gently patted Bucky's head. "Come on, babe. Think of it this way. A little harmless time spent staring at the human will keep me out of real trouble. You'd like that, wouldn't you? No wandering off to explore dangerous new places on my own, no sharks in the area, nothing I could injure myself on. And if you need me, you'll know where to find me."

Bucky groaned and buried his face in Steve's chest. "I fucking hate you," he muttered.

Steve grinned and stroked Bucky's hair. "You love me and you want me to be happy."

"For some inexplicable reason. I must have hit my head when I was younger." Bucky shook his head. "You're going to be the death of me one day. Such a pain in the tail fin."

Steve rolled his eyes and pulled Bucky into a hug. He knew by now that all the grumbling didn't mean a thing. Bucky was such a sap, as much as he liked to pretend otherwise. "Feeling's mutual, honey," he said cheerfully. "Now stop moping and let's get something to eat. I'll introduce you to the wonders of seaweed."

Bucky stuck out his tongue. "The only way I'll eat seaweed is if it's wrapped around a fish."

"I can work with that. I'll catch us a few fish."

Bucky put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "After the storm, you punk. You'll get hurt out there."

"Are you kidding me, Buck? I literally swam all the way to Natasha's sunning spot and back without hurting myself somehow. And now I can't put one fin outside the cave without you fussing over me about the storm."

"Just stay with me a little, okay?" Bucky nuzzled into Steve's chest. "Don't go right back out into the storm."

"Alright," Steve said. He curled around Bucky. A joint nap sounded almost better than getting food. "Wake me up when you get hungry enough."

When Bucky woke him some time later, the storm had subsided and Bucky magnanimously allowed him out of the cave to catch a fish for each of them. Because if Bucky was willing to eat seaweed-wrapped fish, he ought to be supportive and eat one with him.

Bucky made a face when he saw the tiny wrasses Steve had brought back. "Seriously? Those are barely a snack."

"We're wrapping them in seaweed," Steve said patiently. "We need to start small, see how you like it."

Begrudgingly, Bucky settled back and watched Steve wrap each of the fish in a thick layer of seaweed. "Take it easy on the seaweed, Stevie. I actually want to taste some fish in there."

Steve rolled his eyes and handed Bucky the smaller fish.

Bucky took a tentative bite and wrinkled his nose. "Too much seaweed, not enough fish." He took a bigger bite, ripping the fish in half with his teeth. "That's better," he said with his mouth full.

"Such a dork," Steve said. He took a reasonable bite of his fish and chewed thoughtfully. He was starting to think he actually preferred the taste of the human's burnt fish. Hmn. What would seaweed taste like when it was burned?

After Bucky finished his fish, he rated it a solid "meh".

"I still can't believe you'd ruin a perfectly good fish by wrapping it in disgusting seaweed," he muttered. "Sure, it's not as bad as plain seaweed, but then the fish isn't as good as a plain fish either."

Steve frowned. "But seaweed makes the fish taste so much better. Just think about the different texture and flavor it adds. Plain fish is boring day in and day out."

"Only if you eat the same kind of fish every day."

Steve shook his head sadly. "You're hopeless."

Bucky shrugged. "And you have weird tastes. Nobody's perfect." He slung an arm over Steve's shoulders. "It's sweet how concerned you are about the fish and people, but trust me, there's plenty more where those came from. There'll be pretty creatures for you to admire for the rest of your life. So indulge a little. Eat some fish with your seaweed. You're too amazing to resign yourself to eating just the disgusting crap forever. You did say something about wanting variety in your food, didn't you?"

Steve sighed. "Of course, that's the only thing you picked up on."

"Hey, I just don't want to see you suffering. You're so busy saving the world that you forget about yourself, sometimes."

"I'm just trying to do the right thing."

Bucky nuzzled against him. "You're too good for us."

Clint swam up, giving them both a disgusted look. "You two are eating already? You couldn't be bothered to get fish for the rest of us?"

Bucky flipped him off. "Get your own fish, Barton."

Steve rolled his eyes as the two of them settled into their familiar squabble. Everyone thought he and Bucky were bad, but Bucky and Clint were infinitely worse.

"You really that hungry?" Bucky snapped. He stuffed a handful of seaweed into Clint's mouth.

Clint gagged and spat everything out. "Damnit, Barnes. Are you trying to kill me?"

"Knock it off, you two," Natasha said sternly. She shoved Bucky in Steve's direction. "Go be troublesome somewhere else." She leveled Clint with a glare. "Seriously? You can't catch your own dinner, you big baby?"

"Nat," Clint whined.

Bucky snickered and swam a short distance, pulling Steve along with him. "Before we were so rudely interrupted," he said.

Steve nodded and pulled Bucky into his arms. One of the downsides to living in a pod was the lack of privacy. But he did love all his friends. It was so much easier than scraping by with Bucky as two single sirens, fending off predators on their own.

"Just think about it," Bucky murmured into Steve's chest. "Think about putting yourself first for a change."

"I will," Steve promised, as he stoked Bucky's hair.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Steve woke before Bucky. Even before the rest of his pod, perhaps. He could still hear Clint's snoring, anyway. With a little effort, he extracted himself from Bucky's cuddly embrace without waking him and swam off to catch the human's breakfast.

He just couldn't get the idea of how burned seaweed would taste out of his mind. And he human was the only one who would be able to make it.

Maybe Bucky was right. Maybe he was spending too much time with the human. He was starting to develop the same strange tastes.

Steve pushed the horrifying thought out of his mind and snatched up a sand tilefish that had been swimming too close. With a deft motion, he snapped the fish's spine and started wrapping seaweed around the limp body. It looked so much neater than the fishes he had wrapped for himself and Bucky. With a little practice, he might one day be able to make intricate patterns in the wrappings like the human's etchings. And then they might look appetizing to the other sirens.

But he was getting way ahead of himself. Start small, keep the human happy and fed and then he'd go from there.

Steve surfaced inside the little cave and was pleased to see that the human was awake, sitting in front of a fire in the middle of the cave floor. Most of the water had receded and thee were only puddles here and there.

"Good morning, human. I'm glad to see you survived the storm." Not that his survival was ever in question. Steve wouldn't have left the human there if there was any chance of drowning. But the human probably considered himself lucky to be alive after how terrified he had been.

Steve held out the fish. "I brought you breakfast."

The human tilted his head to one side and stared at Steve's offering.

"It's still a fish," Steve assured him. "It's just wrapped in a layer of seaweed." He lifted the seam of the wrapping a little so the human could see the scales underneath.

The human's eyes flicked from Steve to the wrapped fish and back to Steve again before he let out a whoop and started rushing around the cave, pulling bits and pieces of driftwood from each of his different piles.

Steve chuckled as he watched the human work. "Really excited about this fish, are you?"

He wasn't sure what had triggered this sudden burst of energy, but he was thrilled to see the human moving around so quickly. His leg seemed almost healed, which meant he'd be forced to go back to the surface soon, but Steve tried to only dwell on the positives.

"What are you up to?" he asked as the human started fiddling with the pile of scrap he had created. "You look like you're making something."

Something that seemed a lot more complicated than a bonfire. Bonfires were usually made from haphazard piles of sticks. But this wood was arranged into a careful pattern. It reminded Steve a little of the fishing nets he had seen at a distance.

Steve watched as the human pounded four branches into the ground around the fire and then carefully laid his stick arrangement on top. He waited apprehensively for the sticks to catch fire and the whole thing to go up in flames, but after a moment, nothing happened. The human let out a cry of delight and placed the wrapped fish on top of the structure.

He turned to Steve with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, clearly feeling like he had just done something incredible. Steve was sure he had, but he just wasn't sure what it was.

Steve carefully hauled himself out of the water for a closer look at the human's contraption. What was its purpose? How could it be so close to the fire and not get burned?

After a few minutes, the human waved him off and with two other sticks, carefully lifted the fish off the little structure. "Ta-da!" he said with a flourish, using one of the sticks to poke a layer of seaweed aside.

Steve watched steam curl up from the fish. It wasn't burned, but it looked warm and pink on the inside, like the other fish had been. He was itching to taste it.

Luckily, the human was a generous man and pleased to share his accomplishments, because he speared a small piece of fish with his stick and offered it to Steve.

Steve took a small bite and nodded approvingly. The fish was so soft, flaking apart on his tongue. And the seaweed had imparted a good flavor to it. With the stick, Steve helped himself to a sliver of seaweed. It was even better than the fish, crispy and flaky. He barely had to chew it.

"You've ruined me, human," Steve said with a sigh. "How am I ever going to eat this plain again?"

The human cocked his head to one side and wordlessly pointed to the fish.

"If you insist," Steve said with a small smile.

The two of them polished off the fish and the seaweed easily. Steve was gratified that the human ate just as much of each. Maybe he couldn't convince his friends to give seaweed a try, but the human was more open-minded.

Steve patted the human's shoulder. "You're a good person, you know that? I'm sure it must be scary finding yourself in a new land, unable to communicate with anybody, unsure of what's going on. And we probably don't look all that friendly." He bared his teeth in a grimace. "But you're either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish."

He knew which one Bucky would choose.

"I wish I could stay longer," Steve said, giving the human's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "But I have another human to check up on."

The human made a quick sketch of a fish and then rubbed a hand over his belly.

"Another one?" Steve said with a laugh. Oh, right, they had shared the fish. He shook his head. The human was surprisingly trusting. Steve was his only source of food and he was cheerfully sharing like he could go out and catch himself another fish if he felt like it. If Steve wasn't careful, the human was going to starve himself with his generosity.

Steve dove back into the water and returned a few moments later with a plump wrasse.

The human looked down at the fish and back up at Steve with an expression that clearly said, "that's it?"

Steve snorted. "I guess I'm not the only one who's getting spoiled." But he obligingly hauled up a handful of seaweed.

The human hummed as he started wrapping the fish, brief snatches of the lullaby Steve had sung to him the day before. Steve felt a surge of pride. And a little smugness as he watched the human struggle with the wrapping. The human's drawings might be prettier, but he had his skills with the fish.

"I really must leave you now," Steve said. "I have fish to catch for the other human."

There was no response from the human. He was muttering to himself as he redid the wrapping for the third time. Steve almost felt sorry for him. But the human was smart. He'd figure it out eventually.

Steve slipped back under the water and swam resolutely towards the rocky outcropping where the other human was kept. This was going to be the first time feeding the other man and Steve wanted to give him a good first impression. He remembered how terrified the dark-haired human had been the first few days. He was determined to do better with this man. Unfortunately, there really wasn't much room for a fire in the tiny alcove. It would have to be a tiny fire, but hopefully it would keep the human warm and make him feel safer.

Once Steve had gathered up a nice, plump fish, a handful of seaweed, and several pieces of driftwood, he went to see the other human.

"Human," he called out as he hauled himself out of the water. "I've brought you some food."

The human appeared in the mouth of the cave, shouting and waving his arms above his head. He grabbed a small rock and threw it towards Steve.

Steve ducked down and the rock passed by harmlessly overhead. "I'm a friend," he pleaded. He held up the fish. "It's food. For you."

The human kept shouting and hurling rocks, his face almost purple with rage and his white facial hair bristling as his mouth twisted in a snarl.

Steve couldn't believe it. If he had wanted to eat the human, he would have already. But he had dragged him to shelter, treated his injuries, and was now bringing him food. The lack of gratitude was astounding. But people probably did stupid things when they were scared. When the human calmed down a little, he'd probably realize Steve didn't mean him any harm.

"Fine," Steve said. "I'm leaving. But you'll want to eat eventually or you'll starve to death." He left the supplies on a rock, far enough from the water's edge that the tide probably wouldn't carry it away.

He dove underwater as more rocks rained down towards his position. This was getting ridiculous.

"Well, at least I know he's strong and healthy," Steve muttered to himself. He wasn't going to have to wait for the human to recover his strength. But he was going to have to wait until the human decided to trust him. Because Steve had no interest in being pelted with rocks again. He was so thankful the first human had been scared and reclusive instead of aggressive.

After the stress of dealing with the angry human, Steve was ready to go back to bed or at least have a short nap. But since Bucky was awake, it wasn't likely he'd get any relaxing done.

"Where the hell have you been?" Bucky demanded. "Out catching food for your pets again?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Humans need to eat every day, same as we do."

Bucky huffed. "Just don't disappear on me like that. I was looking everywhere for you."

"But you knew where I was. With the humans."

Bucky crossed his arms over his chest. "I went into the damn cave. Saw the crazy guy with the sticks. But not you."

"Oh," Steve said. "That was probably when I was with the other human."

"And you didn't think to tell me where that was?"

"I thought Natasha told you," Steve said with an indifferent shrug.

"You can tell me later," Bucky said. "After you see Thor."

"Thor came to visit?" Steve asked with delight.

Thor's pod lived further north, a couple days away. So they only saw him once every few months when he was in the area patrolling the far boundaries of their territory. Steve and his group of friends were one of the tiniest pods in siren society so nobody really considered them a threat. Thor had always been friendly and open to friendship each time he came on patrol`so after a few years, nobody had really considered territorial boundaries anymore and Thor was free to come spend a few days hanging out in their cave.

"And you almost missed him," Bucky said with a shake of his head. "Too busy playing with your humans."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Thor's going to be here for a few days. He always is." It was probably Bucky's worst attempt at a guilt trip.

"Still," Bucky said. "He's not going to be here for long. Better make the most of the time. The human will still be here after he's left."

Of course, Steve could have argued just as much that the human was only supposed to be there for the week and was going to be gone forever after that and he was the one Steve really needed to spend time with because Thor would always visit again, but that probably wasn't going to get him anywhere. They could argue until the seas dried up and neither one would change their minds.

So he just kept his mouth shut and followed Bucky back to their cave.

When they arrived, Thor was reclining on his favorite rock as he regaled Clint with a story about a marlin, his deep red tentacles shifting and curling as he got caught up in the emotion of the tale.

"Sorry to interrupt," Bucky said. "But I found Steve."

"Steven!" Thor said joyously. He pulled Steve into a crushing embrace, arms and tentacles wrapping around him.

"Hey, Thor," Steve gasped out.

Thor liked hugging everyone and no one had the heart to tell him that he tended to squeeze just a little too hard when he was excited. At least Thor had learned not to throw himself at Bruce after one memorable meeting when Bruce had gotten startled and his lower half had defensively swelled into a mass of spikes.

Steve hadn't been thrilled to be nominated for giving Thor another talk about their biological differences.

"It is good to see you, my friend," Thor said cheerfully, the tentacles mercifully unwrapping from Steve's body. "I have been told that you are very busy these days, tending to some humans you've found."

Steve gritted his teeth. "I don't know what the others have been telling you, but it's just two men. I'm still leaving plenty of humans for the rest of you. Think of it this way. If I save these two healthy humans, they'll go on to further their species and there'll be more humans for the rest of you later."

Thor stroked his chin with one tentacle. "I had not given it much thought, but you could be right. If you could save a few healthy humans and entice them to mate, you'd have a reliable food source during the storms."

Clint made a gagging sound. "I don't want to think about how humans mate. And I certainly don't want to 'entice' them to do it. Leave me out of this."

"It was just a thought," Thor said with a shrug. "Perhaps not even feasible. Steven would be able to tell us more. He seems to be the most knowledgeable on human behaviors."

Steve plastered on a weak smile. "Sorry, Thor. The two I've rescued were both men. So, uh, no, I don't know any more about human procreation than you do."

Bucky smirked. "Come on, Steve. I'm sure you have some idea what two guys can get up to."

Steve shuddered. "Buck, please. The one guy's probably old enough to be the other's father. He's got white hair and everything."

"I'll take your word for it, Mr. Human Expert. But maybe some people are into older guys."

"Nobody wants to hear about your mating habits," Natasha said as she swam by. "Have you eaten yet, Thor? I could send one of the boys out to catch you some fish. It'll keep them out of trouble." She gave Bucky an icy look.

"A few fish would be most welcome," Thor said. "I had to seek shelter from the storm on my journey here and have not had a chance for a good meal yet."

"Don't let Stevie catch you anything," Bucky advised. "He wraps everything in seaweed these days."

"Intriguing," Thor said. "You have definitely been busy since I saw you last. Caring for humans, coming up with new food ideas. It's remarkable you have time for so many ideas."

"He doesn't," Bucky muttered.

Steve ignored him and smiled pleasantly at Thor. "Would you like to try a seaweed-wrapped fish? If you don't like it, I'll take the seaweed off and no hard feelings."

"Very well," Thor said. "I like to try local delicacies."

Steve shot Bucky a triumphant look. "Go catch us some fish, darling. I'll get the seaweed." When Bucky made no move to go out, Steve added, "It's for Thor, you know. We don't want our guest to starve, do we?"

With a grumble, Bucky finally swam out of the cave.

Steve grinned and turned to Thor. "Tell me more about the marlin."

Thor's eyes lit up. "So there we were, I and my friends the Warriors Three, facing down this magnificent creature." His tentacles whirled around him as he acted out the hunt.

Man, was it good to have Thor back. He had really missed his stories.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next few days, Steve spent as much time with Thor as possible. Everyone did, really. He was just so full of exuberance and vitality that everyone just naturally gravitated towards him. It was hard to believe sometimes that he was a strong warrior at the head of a powerful pod.

But Steve supposed all sirens were the same deep down. When they weren't hunting or defending their territories, they liked to just relax and have fun. And Thor's favorite form of fun was telling stories.

When Thor was in a storytelling mood, he could go on for hours, talking about everything from intense territorial battles to Fandral's latest romantic failings. But he was as equally interested in hearing stories so when one of Thor's tales was over, Steve's pod took turns telling him about life in their stretch of the sea.

Naturally, when it was his turn, Steve entertained Thor with stories of his humans.

"The patterns he makes are incredible," Steve said. "It's too bad the water would probably wash them away or I'd attempt to copy them on the walls of our cave."

From what he had heard in Thor's stories, his pod slept in a series of caves, each one full of beautiful rock formations. Steve's pod didn't have the luxury of a beautiful dwelling. They had simply chosen a safe location with enough flat surfaces for them all to sleep. Steve wished he could provide his pod with a better home, but it was the best he could do.

"Our cave is fine the way it is," Bucky said sullenly. "We don't need human crap to make it better."

"You haven't seen the human's etchings," Steve shot back. "Or you wouldn't call them crap. They're beautiful."

"I would like to see these designs," Thor said. "If they are indeed as beautiful as you say."

Bucky groaned. "Don't get him started."

Steve rose from his rock. "I can take you there now," he said. "And since I haven't fed the human yet, it'll be a chance for you to watch him eat."

Thor followed Steve to his favorite fishing spot and helped him catch a few small fish. He even helped wrap them. With Thor's hands and tentacles working in tandem, all the fish were wrapped in no time.

"I always bring more than he can eat," Steve said. "He insists on sharing his meals with me."

"What a charming human custom," Thor said.

Considering how openly hostile the other human remained, it was probably less human custom and more the dark-haired human's friendly personality. But Steve liked to think most humans were good and friendly creatures.

Steve surfaced inside the cave, Thor following close behind him.

"Hello, human," Steve said. "I brought a friend of mine to see you."

The human shuffled closer to the water's edge and peered down at Thor. "Odd yule owl got," he murmured. "Ice team, id by," he said a little louder, extending a hand down to Thor.

"He does seem to want to communicate with us," Thor said, eyeing the outstretched hand. "I wonder what he wants."

"Food, probably," Steve said. "Here, human. I've brought you another seaweed-wrapped fish."

Steve held up one of the fish and the human immediately took his eyes off Thor. He smiled at Steve and took the fish from his hands.

"It's his favorite," Steve told Thor. "He likes seaweed almost as much as I do."

"Fascinating," Thor said as the human started to set up his sticks over the fire. "What is he making?"

"It's a tool to warm the fish." Steve hauled himself out of the water and scooted close to the fire. "You can come see for yourself. He usually likes showing off his intelligence."

As Thor rose from the water, he human backed away quickly and pointed at him. "Pine dew!" he shouted.

"It's okay," Steve said soothingly. "It's okay. Thor's not going to hurt you." He gave Thor a sheepish look. "Sorry. You're just the second siren he's met. We'd better take this slow."

"Of course," Thor said. He heaved the rest of his mass out of the water and settled on the shoreline. "I am content to observe from here."

The human crept closer once Thor stopped moving. "Saw pot oh hem?" His eyes flicked to Steve.

"You don't mind if he touches you, do you?" Steve asked.

"Not at all. I expect he's curious." Thor splayed out his tentacles. "Humans don't have the variety that we do. No tails, no tentacles. Just two legs. I feel sorry for them."

Steve nodded. Poor humans. It had to be boring for their entire bodies to be all one color and one texture. Probably why they wore such strange outfits. The human's outfit by now was a little tattered and dirty. Perhaps he'd feel more confident if Steve made him something out of beautiful yellow kelp and bright green seaweed. But since he was only going to be with them for a short time longer, he probably shouldn't go through all the effort. The human would be able to find nicer clothes once he was back with his own kind.

The human circled around Thor, coming closer and closer with each rotation. Finally, he reached out one finger to tentatively poke at one of Thor's tentacles. When Thor stayed motionless, the human stroked a hand all the way down to the tip.

"Now feel the underside," Thor said, turning the tentacle over.

The human jerked back at the movement, but quickly returned to running his hands over all of Thor's appendages, making little sounds of delight.

Thor chuckled. "He really is a curious one, isn't he?"

Steve beamed. "He is. It's a sign of intelligence, I think. He wants to learn, to understand. You don't see fish acting this way."

"No," Thor said. "A fish would have swum away at the first sign of danger. But this fellow is so bold. Walking right up to a predator. He's lucky you were the one to find him."

Steve sighed. He was going to have to terrify the human before releasing him so he'd learn sirens were fearsome predators. He wasn't looking forward to that, but he didn't want the human trying to make friends with another siren and getting eaten.

Thor patted Steve's shoulder. "Don't feel bad, my friend. It is a good thing you do. He's not the only one learning from our interactions."

Steve forced a smile. "The only thing I've learned is that the rest of my pod thinks I'm crazy."

"Don't worry about what they think. In time they may understand. Life is more than just a struggle for survival. There is plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the world around us. If you had not saved this man, we would not have the opportunity to see the heights of human creativity. Just think how much richer our lives are with this knowledge."

Steve grinned. Thor was great. He was so open-minded and willing to try everything.

The human cleared his throat and held out a small portion of the fish and seaweed to Thor.

"Thank you, little one," Thor said. He took a bite and made an appreciative noise.

The human beamed and offered another chunk to Steve.

The first fish was gone in no time at all with the three of them trading bites. And so were the next two fish. By then, Steve could tell that the human was full. But he still dutifully prepared the fourth fish and offered it to Steve and Thor.

"What a wonderful meal," Thor said, leaning back against the cave wall and rubbing a hand over his stomach. "Something we never would have experienced had you not saved this human."

"It is wonderful," Steve admitted. "I never would have thought fire could make food taste so much better."

"A clever idea," Thor agreed. "I have to wonder if this human is especially bright for his kind or if all humans are this intelligent."

"If I find out, I'll be sure to let you know."

Thor clapped him on the back. "I will be most gratified to hear of your progress the next time I return."

Steve wilted. "You're going back home already?"

"I pledged to spend five days with your pod and the fifth day is almost spent. I don't have to leave immediately, but I must be off by nightfall."

"Oh god," Steve said. "I forgot it was your last day here. And here I am tying you up for hours showing off my ridiculous-"

"Nonsense," Thor said. "I have greatly enjoyed spending time with you and enjoying your human's hospitality. A day well spent should never be regretted."

"But the rest of the pod," Steve said guiltily. "I'm sure they'd love to spend a little more time with you before you go."

"And so they shall," Thor said. "It is not quite sunset. There is time enough for a few more tales before I'm off. And if it is as you say and your pod has been less than supportive, you're more in need of my companionship than the others."

Steve couldn't help the smile that slid over his face. Thor really was his favorite.

Thor patted the human's shoulder carefully. "Take care, human. I fear we may not see each other again, but I cherish our brief meeting."

Steve stifled a laugh as the human scrunched up his nose and cocked his head to one side. He had seen the same expression on fellow sirens sometimes when Thor talked.

The human sketched out figures that looked similar to the two sirens and then stared up at them expectantly.

"Oh," Thor said. "What a fine tribute."

Steve gently pried the wood out of the human's hand and drew a series of images to represent the many sights Thor would see on the way back to his territory and drew a line from the representation of Thor to the first of the sights, Shipwreck Cove.

The human studied Steve's drawing and then nodded, his face twisting with unhappiness. He patted Thor on the shoulder and offered him a solemn wave goodbye.

"I know," Steve said. "We're all sad Thor's leaving, too. Maybe I'll bring Bruce by for a visit to make up for it." He had been meaning to bring Bruce to see the human anyway, but with Thor's visit, things had gotten pushed aside.

"Very good," Thor said. "I'm sure you are a great companion but the human is sure to be happier with more socialization."

Huh. Now that Steve thought about it, the human had to be awfully lonely living in the cave all by himself. He was definitely bringing Bruce for a visit as soon as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Steve meant to get up early and take Bruce to see the human, but Bucky had been in an especially affectionate mood and Steve felt no regrets about lingering in bed and letting Bucky press kisses all over him.

"Love you," Bucky said, nuzzling against Steve's dorsal fin. "My darling."

"Not that I don't love this," Steve said. "Because I do. But you're not usually this cuddly in the mornings." Bucky was usually an early riser, raring to get up and get the day started.

Bucky shrugged. "I know how it usually is when Thor comes for a visit. We all spend as much time with him as possible and don't really have time for each other. I don't like neglecting you all week."

"Didn't feel like it to me," Steve said, although he was charmed by Bucky's thoughtfulness.

"I mean it, babe. I missed you this week." Bucky pressed a kiss to the back of Steve's hand.

"Missed you, too," Steve said. "Hey, you want to go hunting for fish with me this morning?"

Bucky's expression flattened out. "Are you actually going to eat any of the fish we catch?"

"Maybe," Steve said. "You did try the seaweed the other day so I'm willing to do it your way this time."

That had obviously been the right answer because Bucky's face lit up. "Hell yes. I've missed hunting with you."

Steve smiled. It was definitely more fun to hunt with others. It made it a game instead of an obligation. Of course, it would take twice as long to catch anything because they'd be busy playing around and chasing each other instead of the fish, but it would be a great time.

"And fish always tastes better when they're caught by someone you love," Bucky said, punctuated with a gentle nip to Steve's ear.

"You're really trying, aren't you?" Steve said with a smirk. "Trying to make up for being a jerk."

"Hey," Bucky said indignantly. "You said it wasn't that-"

"I'm teasing," Steve said. He nudged Bucky's side. "You weren't a jerk this week. Last week, though, that's a different story."

Bucky scowled. "You damn punk. Just for that, I'm going to catch you a lionfish."

Steve shrugged. "You're going to be the one eating it."

The play fight that ensued was a lot more normal for their relationship. And as usual, it ended with Steve pinning Bucky on his back atop their rock.

"Damn it," Bucky said. "I miss when you were a little thing. I used to win all our fights."

"Lies," Steve said. Even though he had been a lot smaller than Bucky when they were younger, his stubbornness had more than made up for it.

Bucky leaned up to kiss him. "Hey, you going to let me up or is this your evil plan to get out of fishing?"

Steve considered for a moment. It would be so easy to keep Bucky pinned down and keep kissing him. And that would be a great way to spend the morning. But he was starting to get hungry.

After getting in one last kiss, Steve rolled off him. "Last one to the reef is a sea slug," he said, making for the mouth of the cave with a powerful thrust of his tail.

"You god damned cheater!" Bucky shouted, close behind.

Bucky caught up to him at the reef and tackled him into the sand.

Steve laughed as he flipped them over. "I win. Again."

Bucky huffed and made a big show of complaining about how Steve had cheated. But his eyes wee bright and the corners of his lips were twitching like he was fighting a smile. And as Steve pressed his mouth to Bucky's, he could feel the smile spreading into a full-blown grin.

"So," Steve said. "Since I won, you should catch the first fish."

Bucky rolled his eyes and flared out his tail. "Winning worked up your appetite, eh?" His expression softened. "I used to catch fish for you all the time when you were too weak to chase them yourself. And you kept insisting that I didn't need to, that you'd make do with seaweed and kelp. That's what started all this nonsense. You got into-"

"Bucky," Steve said with a groan.

"Alright, alright. I'll catch your damn fish. Gotta get you something good so you can see what you've been missing."

Steve smiled fondly as Bucky circled around the reef, making feints towards a few small fish so they'd dart back into the safety of the coral. Buck was in search of larger prey, but he always liked showing off how quick he was.

Bucky made another slow, measured circuit around the coral and then he dove down sharply with a cry of triumph. When he emerged above the coral, he was holding a struggling hogfish with both hands.

"Want to share?" Bucky asked with a lopsided smile.

Steve felt a rush of warmth. If they shared this fish, he wouldn't be obligated to catch another fish for Bucky.

"I'll even kill it for you," Bucky said, snapping the fish's spine in a quick movement.

Steve looped his arms around Bucky's neck. "Look at you being all sweet and understanding. Someone's angling for a good time tonight."

It was always amusing to see Bucky blush.

Steve took pity on him and eased the dead fish out of Bucky's arms. He took a large bite out of the fish's flank and chewed thoughtfully. "It's good."

Bucky smirked. "Told you fish tastes better with a big helping of love."

"Oh, I can taste the love alright." He grinned slyly. "Maybe you should catch a fish for the human and see if he can taste how much you hate him."

"I don't hate him," Bucky said with an exasperated sigh. "I just don't see any point in keeping him around. He's food. It's like suddenly getting attached to a piece of seaweed."

"It's not like that at all. If you'd only meet him, you'd-"

"I already met him."

"You did? When?" Steve couldn't imagine Bucky going in to see the human of his own volition.

"When I was looking for you, idiot." Bucky lightly cuffed Steve upside the head. "Although meet is kind of a strong word. More like stared at him as he made weird noises and waved a stick in the air. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for his intelligence."

"You've done plenty of weird things yourself. Crashing into the reef when you weren't paying attention, flailing about when a crab pinched your tail, getting stuck in-"

"Alright, I get it. I'm a clumsy idiot. Don't have to rub my face in it."

"I'm just saying. The human's no dumber than one of us on a bad day. He might not understand everything, but comparing him to a piece of seaweed is insulting."

Bucky sighed. "Okay, not the fairest comparison. Like this fish then." He took a huge bite, ripping out a sizable hunk of the fish's flesh.

Steve grimaced. "He's more intelligent than a fish and you know it."

"He's not as smart as a siren. That's for sure."

"Maybe, maybe not. But consider this. Clint's as dumb as a rock sometimes and nobody considers eating him."

"Clint doesn't have succulent thighs."

"Ew," Steve said with a choked laugh.

"What? The thighs are the best part."

"Just shut up and eat your fish."


	7. Chapter 7

It had been great to spend almost an entire day just with Bucky. It seemed like they rarely had time to do things just the two of them these days. Living as a pod meant doing things for the good of the pod instead of just taking care of each other. It was lucky that they were a small pod and patrolling the boundaries of their territory took hours instead of days.

Still, Steve was sometimes nostalgic for the days when it had been just him and Bucky, two little orphans taking on the world together.

"No, you don't," Bucky growled. "You were small and sick all the goddamn time and you almost got eaten by a shark once."

Steve blinked, his eyes refocusing on the familiar walls of the pod's shelter, his favorite sleeping spot, and Bucky's arms wrapped around him. Wow, he had to be really out of it if he was thinking out loud.

Bucky gave him a disapproving look. "When I said it was time for bed, I meant to sleep, not lie there and start reminiscing about being shark bait."

"How can I not reminisce about that? It's one of my favorite memories."

Granted, it had been scary at the time. Hydra had decided to claim the small cave they had been sheltering in as part of their territory and they had sicced their pet sharks on them. Steve had been too weak to outswim the sharks and if Bucky hadn't been there, he would have been killed for sure. But how many sirens could say their lover had punched a shark in the face for them? Just thinking about it always made Steve feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Bucky groaned. "Our life back then was shitty. We were always moving, trying to keep out of another pod's territory, trying not to get eaten by sharks, and trying to keep you fed and alive. I don't know why you love the old days so much."

"Because you were with me," Steve said. "We shared everything together."

"We still do, idiot."

"Nope," Steve said. He laced his hands behind his back and sighed his most put-upon sigh. "You won't spend even a minute helping me with the human."

Bucky bared his teeth in a snarl. "Oh, for fuck's sake, Steve. I don't want to hear another word about that guy. He's all you talk about."

Steve shrugged indifferently. "Maybe if you'd come see for yourself, I wouldn't have to spend time talking to you about him."

"I don't want to see your damn human."

"That's a shame. You're willing to punch a shark for me, but spending a few minutes watching the human is too much for you."

"Damnit, Steve," Bucky said, in that high, whiny tone that meant he was going to go along with whatever Steve had talked him into, but was prepared to complain the whole way.

Steve smiled broadly and kissed Bucky's cheek. "First thing in the morning, darling. He can make us breakfast."

"But you don't need to make food. You just catch it and eat it."

Steve patted Bucky's flank. "You'll see."

Bucky huffed and shoved Steve back down into their bed. "Go to sleep, you menace. I want to get up early and get this over with as soon as possible."

"Aw, you say the sweetest things." Steve curled into Bucky, unable to keep the grin off his face. It would be so good to finally have Bucky by his side again.

Bucky rolled his eyes and turned his back to Steve, falling asleep almost instantly. Steve stayed awake, too excited to go right to sleep. By the time Bucky nudged him awake in the morning, it felt like he had barely slept at all.

"You feeling okay?" Bucky asked, his mouth twisted with concern. "Maybe today's not a good day to see your human."

"Oh no you don't," Steve said, stifling a yawn. "If you don't go now, you'll never go. You'll just keep coming up with excuses until he's back on shore."

"I'm not making excuses. You look like shit this morning and you shouldn't be exerting yourself if you're sick."

"I'm not that sick. I haven't been that sick in a long time. But if you're really worried about me, you get to catch all the fish for the three of us."

Bucky grumbled, but reluctantly agreed to the deal, which made Steve feel bad. There was no way Bucky would agree to catch a fish for the human unless he was really concerned about Steve's health.

Oh well. He'd just have to coax Bucky into taking a nice long afternoon nap with him and then he'd be fine.

He swam leisurely after Bucky, watching as his lover caught three small fish in quick succession, snapping their spines and handing them off to Steve to hold while he went to catch another one.

Steve grinned at the armful of fish he ended up with. It was more than he needed, which meant he could make a quick stop to drop some off with the hostile human first.

"I'll be right back," Steve said. "You can go on ahead if you want."

Bucky folded his arms over his chest. "And where are you going?"

"To leave a few fish for the other guy. Don't worry, I won't make you come see him. He tends to get a little violent and I wouldn't subject you to that."

"Wow," Bucky said. "You save him and he attacks you? He deserves to be eaten."

"No, Bucky. Think about it from his perspective. He's in a strange place with scary monsters that could eat him at any moment. He's just trying to protect himself."

"Fine," Bucky said sulkily. "But if he hurts you, I'm definitely eating him."

Just to be safe, Steve made the drop-off at the angry human's cave a little faster than usual, not stopping to say hello and give him the chance to throw rocks. The man had never really hurt him, but after Bucky's threat, he didn't want to take the chance.

He hurried back to the human's cave with Bucky, worry for the human waking him up from his lethargy.

"This better be good," Bucky grumbled, swimming into the cave's opening after Steve.

When they surfaced inside the cave, the human had his back to them, muttering to himself as he tapped a stick against the far wall of the cave.

"Well, what do you know?" Bucky drawled. "Making weird noises and waving a stick around."

Steve cuffed him upside the head. "Be nice."

The human put down whatever he had been doing and came to greet them with a wide smile.

"This is Bucky," Steve said. "My best friend since hatching and the love of my life. He promised me he wouldn't eat you and he always keeps his word."

"Unfortunately," Bucky muttered.

The human pointed to the floor of the cave, where the sketch Steve had made of Thor's journey was still visible.

Steve shook his head. "Sorry, no Thor today. He's going to be gone for awhile."

The human's shoulders slumped.

"I know," Steve said. "We all miss him when he's gone."

"Come on," Bucky said. "He's not actually saying anything. You're just making shit up and pretending you're having a conversation."

The human stroked his chin for moment as he stared at the drawing, apparently deep in thought. Then he brightened. He pointed at the drawing and then at Bucky with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle.

Steve suppressed a laugh. "He's asking if you're going to go after Thor."

The human clasped his hands in front of him in a pleading gesture.

Steve snickered. "He's really anxious to get rid of you, Buck."

"And I'm anxious to get rid of him," Bucky said. He bared his teeth at the human.

The human bared his teeth right back. Although since they were flat human teeth, they weren't very threatening. This was probably why the human put all his food in the fire. It softened everything up so even his pitifully weak teeth could chew through it.

Bucky grew increasingly agitated as the human stuck out his tongue, copied all of Bucky's gestures, made obscene noises, and giggled madly.

"God damn it, this is war, human!" Bucky finally snapped.

"Easy, easy," Steve said. "He's just having fun with you. Think of him like a playful dolphin. Remember the dolphins? How they kept sneaking up on you and splashing you while you were trying to sun yourself?"

Bucky scowled. "Probably trying to drown me, the little bastards."

"They were just playing with you," Steve reminded him. "And you got off easy. They pushed Nat off her sunning rock."

"Not really helping your case here, Stevie."

"Stop getting so worked up. You and Clint have done far worse to each other over the years. Hell, even I've done you worse."

"That's different," Bucky said, crossing his arms over his chest with a scowl. "We're friends."

"Have you considered that the human wants to be friends, too?"

"Hell no. I'm not making friends with an animal."

Steve sighed. "Can you at least be civil for a few minutes? He's going to make us some fish."

"No, this is war," Bucky said stubbornly. "And I don't want any fish the human's touched. He's probably going to do something unspeakably awful to it. Even worse than wrapping it in seaweed."

"The only thing unspeakably awful is your attitude," Steve said. "Now you're going to try at least one bite before you decide you hate it. I'll eat whatever you don't want."

"If you like the stuff I already don't trust it," Bucky muttered.

Steve gave him a sharp glare and drew a fish on the cave floor. "One for each of us," he said, holding up three fingers. "the rest of the fish are yours to do with as you please."

The human cocked his head to one side and pointed at Bucky.

Steve nodded. "One for him too."

The human shrugged and went about readying everything over the fire.

"Unspeakably awful," Bucky whispered. "Told you so."

Steve elbowed him in the side and smiled pleasantly at the human. "Looking good."

After a few minutes, the human put two fish on a layer of seaweed and placed them in front of Steve and Bucky.

Steve started eating immediately, but Bucky picked at it and made disgusted faces before reluctantly putting a bite in his mouth.

"What do you think?" Steve asked.

"Eh, not as bad as I expected." Bucky's second bite was a lot bigger. "But I suppose even an idiot can occasionally blunder into a decent idea. I wonder what the other idiot human would do with a fish."

"Throw it at me, probably."

To Steve's great surprise and delight, Bucky managed to finish his whole fish. He wrapped up the remains of his own fish in a scrap of seaweed and smiled warmly at the human "Thank you, human. We both appreciate the effort. Don't we, Bucky?"

"Yeah, sure," Bucky said with his mouth full. He frowned. "You're not going to eat that? So wasteful."

"I'm saving it for later."

"For you or the sharks? It's already mush and it's going to disintegrate as soon as it hits the water."

"I suppose you're right." Steve pushed the seaweed over.

"This doesn't change anything, you know," Bucky said as he licked his fingers.

"Of course not." Steve shared a private smile with the human.


	8. Chapter 8

It was easier the next morning to talk Bucky into visiting with the human. Bucky had reluctantly admitting enjoying the warm fish, but he still wasn't giving the human credit for the idea. It had to have happened accidentally, he insisted, and the human had just kept on warming the fish after he realized they were so good that way.

Whatever. It was still progress, as far as Steve was concerned.

Bucky dutifully went out hunting for breakfast and returned with a good-sized fish clutched in each hand.

"Nice," Steve said, holding out his hands to take them. "One more to go."

"What?" Bucky said.

Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "If you want the human to feed us, you have to catch one for him, too."

"I did," Bucky said. He frowned at the two fish. "You don't like fish anymore so I just thought-"

"We could share," Steve finished. "That's sweet, babe. But you're going to eat at least a whole fish on your own. And I could stand to eat a little more."

Bucky's mouth twisted unhappily. "So the human's got you eating fish again."

"Is that a bad thing? I like them so much better warm. You do, too, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, but weren't you on about surviving off kelp and seaweed and nothing else? But suddenly the human warms the fish for you and you forget all about your principles."

"It's not like that, Buck. I just realized that you're right. I feel a lot stronger when I eat protein. I'm not going to stop eating seaweed. It's not a punishment, no matter what you say. I actually like the taste. But I do need to start eating fish again."

Bucky let out a whoop of joy and wrapped his arms around Steve's neck. "We'll make an honest siren out of you yet."

"I said fish," Steve said firmly. "Just fish. No humans."

"But, Stevie-"

"Absolutely not. Are you honestly considering letting that nice man feed us and eating him afterward? That's incredibly rude and ungrateful."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Bucky said with a sigh. "Damnit. If only those fish weren't so good."

Steve laughed. "Go catch us another fish. I'll meet up with you at the human's cave."

After Bucky swam off towards the reef, Steve turned back to shout into the cave. "Hey, Bruce. Bucky and I are going to go visit the human. Want to come with us?"

A disconcerting howl of pain echoed through the cave and Steve quickly darted back inside. "Bruce, are you okay?"

"Fine, Steve," Bruce said in a harried tone. "But I'm a little busy at the moment. Clint decided to eat a spiny lobster this morning."

Steve frowned. "Again? You know their antenna-"

"Gets stuck in my teeth, I know." Clint moaned piteously. "But damn it, they're so good. So crunchy."

Steve swum closer, amused by the spectacle of Bruce pinning a wriggling Clint against a rock so he could see into his mouth.

"Stop touching it," Clint whined, batting at Bruce's hands. "You're making it worse."

Bruce pushed Clint's head to one side. "Keep still so I can see what I'm doing."

"It hurts!"

"And it's going to keep hurting until I dig these pieces out. Now stop whining or I'll get Natasha."

Clint quieted down, but he kept squirming and jerking his head out of Bruce's grip.

"Sit still or you'll have more to worry about than a little prickle in your mouth," Bruce warned, his body pulsating ominously.

Clint went stock still.

"I'll join you later this afternoon, Steve," Bruce said pleasantly, twisting Clint's head back into place. "Have fun with the human."

Steve chuckled as he swam off. Bucky was going to love hearing about this. Clint always managed to get himself in some of the most ridiculous situations. The whole pack took turns swapping stories about all the trouble they'd seen Clint land in.

By the time Steve made it to the human's cave, Bucky was already there, sprawled across the shoreline, complaining about how delicious the fish smelled.

"You jerk," Steve said fondly. "Just let the human work his magic and be grateful."

The human waved and chirped out a greeting before returning to poking at the fish.

"Damnit," Bucky lamented. "You tricked me into eating human food. I'm cursed now."

"Good," Steve said. "We'll be cursed together." He smiled at the human as he put the fish in front of him. "But I see it as a blessing. We're so blessed to be able to enjoy this. How many other sirens have had this experience?"

"But now I want more of this," Bucky grumbled.

"I'm sure if you play nice with the human, he'll keep making you more."

"To think that the knowledge of making delicious fish would be wasted on a human." Bucky shook his head sadly. "Land creatures shouldn't have better food than us."

"I think we have it pretty good, considering we're not getting eaten all the time. Let the humans have a little good in their lives."

The human sat down on the edge of the water with his fish and patted Steve's shoulder, babbling excited human speak.

Bucky eyed him apprehensively. "What's he saying? Did he sabotage our food?"

"I have no idea what he said," Steve said. "You keep telling me it's all meaningless noise, remember?"

Bucky scowled and shoved the rest of his fish into his mouth.

Steve chuckled and redrew his representations of his friends that had gotten washed away in the storm. "This is me," he said, pointing to the drawing and then to himself. "And this is Bucky."

The human reached over and added a frown to Bucky's image.

Steve nudged Bucky's side. "He's got you pegged, babe."

Bucky stuck out his tongue. "If I get a frown, you get that stupid grin on your face." He grabbed the stick out of Steve's hand and made a squiggly smile across Steve's image.

The human laughed. "Loops liken." He added a human figure, posing majestically with his hands on his hips, roaring fire all around him, and fish jumping into the flames with bright smiles.

Bucky howled with laughter and slapped his tail against the ground. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Better than anything Clint's ever done."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Steve said. "Clint ate another spiny lobster."

"Clint's a fucking idiot," Bucky said decisively. "This guy's not so bad. You know, for a human."

"So magnanimous of you," Steve said. He draped an arm over Bucky's shoulder. "I'm glad you're stating to get along with him."

"Eh, he's a pain in the tail fin. But I'm used to that. I put up with you all the time, don't I?" He pinched Steve's flank with a wicked grin.

"Takes a jerk to know a jerk," Steve retorted, pinching him back.

"I call it personality," Bucky said with a luxurious stretch. "This guy knows what I'm talking about."

"So since you two are such good friends now, you wouldn't dream of eating him, right?"

Bucky made a face. "Him? No. Humans in general? Come on, Steve. They're fucking delicious. Not as good as the fish the human makes, of course. But still, goddamn delicious."

Steve sighed. "Bucky."

"Steve. You really don't expect me to give up all the good stuff and live a miserable life of kelp and seaweed, do you? I fucking hate that stuff."

"I know," Steve said. He squeezed Bucky's shoulder. "I appreciate you making the effort though. Spending the time with the human to see how clever and amazing he is."

"Sure," Bucky said. "I really can't eat anybody that makes me good food and sasses me about it. He knows I can eat him anytime I want and he doesn't give a damn. Reminds me of another punk without any regard for his own safety."

Steve smiled fondly and nuzzled into Bucky's side. He hadn't expected Bucky would warm up to the human so fast, but the grumpy attitude usually tended to be just for show. When Bucky decided he liked somebody, he might complain about them a lot, but if there was any trouble, he'd be there to protect them. Steve was sure now that not only would Bucky not try and eat the human, but he'd fight any other siren that tried to eat him.

The human made a gagging sound some obnoxious kiss faces in their direction.

Bucky smirked. "I know you're jealous. This hot piece of tail is all mine." He rubbed Steve's flank. "Come on, baby. Let's go somewhere more private."

Steve wasn't about to turn that down.


	9. Chapter 9

Bucky's mouth was on him the second Steve slammed him against the rocks. Kissing, biting, and whispering filthy suggestions in Steve's ear.

Steve groaned as he slotted their bodies together, pushing Bucky more firmly into the rocks. He was pretty sure Bucky's back would be bruised by morning, but Bucky wasn't complaining with the way he looped his arms around Steve's neck and pulled him closer.

"So gorgeous," Steve murmured.

Bucky smirked and pressed another kiss to Steve's jaw. "Yeah, you are." He arched his back and rocked his hips forward, lightly stroking his tail over Steve's.

God, Bucky felt so good against him.

Steve's hands moved lower, tracing over the spot where skin met scales. Bucky had always been sensitive there. Just a few light touches usually left him a mewling mess.

Bucky threw his head back with a keening wail. "Stevie, please."

And then Steve started rutting against him in earnest.

Bucky's hands twitched over Steve's back and his tail thumped rhythmically against the rocks in time with Steve's hips. "God, yes. So fucking good."

It was the best sex Steve remembered having in a long time. Usually they made sure to be quiet and unobtrusive so the rest of the pod wouldn't be grossed out. And while it had started as a fun game to see how much they could get away with without anybody else noticing, after awhile, sex had gotten kind of boring. He had missed how vocal Bucky got when he was really worked up. All the sounds Bucky was making were really getting him worked up, too.

"Steve," Bucky said desperately.

That was it. Steve squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered, letting Bucky's voice wash over him. He felt warm and relaxed, ready to drift off to sleep.

But then Bucky gently nipped at his earlobe. "Damn, Steve. We really went at it."

Steve pried open his eyelids and gazed at the swirling, murky water around them. "Wow," he agreed.

"And just think. All those bubbles might be babies."

"What?" Steve said. Sex usually tended to shut his brain down for a few minutes, but he was sure Bucky wasn't making sense anyway.

Bucky rested his head against Steve's chest. "Just watching you take care of that human makes me a little sad I can't make babies with you. You'd be a great father, you know."

"So would you."

Bucky snorted. "I don't have the patience for kids."

"Neither do I."

"But maybe-"

Steve silenced him with a sharp nip to his flank. "I'm not looking after that man because of some secret longing for a brood of children. I don't want children. I just want you."

Bucky shrugged. "Someone's got to start making babies or our pod's just going to die out."

"Not our problem," Steve said. "Stop worrying about it and just relax with me."

"Can't." Bucky's stomach growled and he shot Steve a sheepish smile. "All that exercise worked up my appetite."

Now that Steve thought about it, he was a little hungry, too. He reached down and plucked a piece of kelp and devoured it. "Problem solved."

He leaned in to kiss Bucky, but Bucky pulled back with a grimace. "Not kissing you right after you put that disgusting crap in your mouth. And if you even try to feed it to me, I'm smacking you over the head." With a look of great dignity, Bucky extracted himself from Steve's arms. "I'm going to catch myself a fish."

"Sure," Steve said, lounging against the rocks. "You do that. I'll be right here when you get back."

"You better be, gorgeous," Bucky said with a salacious grin. He darted off towards the reef with way too much energy after such mind-blowing sex.

Steve found a nice, flat rock and sprawled across it, falling asleep almost immediately.

It felt like only a few minutes later when a pair of hands started shaking him by the shoulders.

"Go to sleep, Buck," he grumbled. "You can't possibly be this frisky still."

"Er, no, it's me," Bruce said.

"Oh, hey, Bruce," Steve said sleepily. Belatedly, he remembered Bruce wanting to see the human."Just give me a few minutes."

"Actually, you should probably go check up on the humans right now. I think they're trying to kill each other."

Steve yawned and rolled over. "They can't be. I put them in separate spots."

"Well, Clint moved them all into the same cave to see what would happen."

Steve rocketed upwards. "You're kidding me," he growled. "Which cave?"

"The big one."

Steve swam as fast as he could toward the cave. When he surfaced, Clint and Bucky were at the water's edge, heads propped up on their arms as they watched the fight.

"Twelve clams on the crazy old guy," Clint said. "He's pretty damn vicious."

"Fuck that," Bucky said. "The other guy is younger and smarter. You just watch. He's going to fight circles around your guy."

Steve smacked them both upside the head. "You morons," he said. "You could have killed that man dragging him over here."

There was no way the angry human would have willingly allowed Bucky and Clint to take him anywhere so they probably had to knock him out to even get near him. Steve sighed unhappily. It was going to make gaining the human's trust even more difficult now.

"You worry too much, Stevie. He's fine. Just look at him." Bucky pointed to the angrily gesticulating human. "I mean, he's pissed as hell, but he's perfectly healthy."

Pissed as hell was right. The angry human's face was even redder than usual. Probably furious about being moved to a new spot and having to be stuck with a stranger. Steve would have thought they man might be happier in a bigger cave and having some company, but nothing seemed to make the man happier. And now he was probably taking out his poor attitude on the nicer human.

When Steve made for the shoreline to break up the fight, Bucky put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Steve. Just let them go at it for a little while. It's just some harmless fun."

"Bruce said they were trying to kill each other," Steve insisted. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"Bruce is exaggerating," Clint said. "There isn't even any blood yet. Kind of disappointing if you ask me."

Steve cuffed him upside the head again. "If you want to see blood, goad some sharks into a fight."

"Calm down," Bucky said firmly. "Just watch with us a bit. If things get out of hand, we'll break it up. Otherwise, lighten up. You've always wanted to see how humans interact with each other, right? Here's your chance."

"Not like this," Steve said sulkily. "I don't want them getting hurt."

"Nobody's getting hurt," Bucky assured him. "It's mostly been yelling and the wild arm-waving. Right, Clint?"

Clint nodded. "Yup. Too busy yelling to care about what we're doing. Although the old guy was certainly mad at us at first. Almost threw all your guy's sticks at us before he stopped him."

It wasn't funny, but Steve couldn't help the little snort. What was with the angry guy and throwing things?

"And then the two of them started fighting over the sticks," Clint continued. "And yelling about god knows what. And after that they've pretty much been ignoring us and just fighting with each other."

Steve pursed his lips as he surveyed the scene. The angry, white-haired human was definitely in the nicer human's face, waving his arms wildly, jabbing a finger into his chest and shouting at him while his face turned purple with rage. But the nice human was holding his own, shouting right back and shoving the man away when he got too close.

"See?" Bucky said. "No more violent than when we scrap over territory."

"I suppose," Steve said, relaxing a little. He still felt sorry for the nicer human, being subjected to all that yelling. It felt a lot like one of those times Steve had done something risky and Bucky had shown up to lecture him on how he had almost been killed.

Oh, wow. That was exactly what it looked like.

"I think they're from the same pod," Steve said slowly. "A family pod."

"Aw, c'mon, Steve, you know the chances of that happening are-"

"No, just hear me out," Steve said firmly. "Don't you see how much they look alike?"

"All humans look alike to me," Clint said with a shrug.

Steve gave him an incredulous look. "They do not all look alike. Haven't you ever paid attention to all the different skin tones and hair colors and body shape? Humans are just as varied as we are. And these two are so similar. They both have the same skin tone and that little patch of facial hair above their mouths."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "A lot of humans have the facial hair."

"But not like this." Steve's eyes flicked between the two humans. "You remember when I told you this one was old enough to be our friend's father?"

"But that doesn't mean-"

"I didn't see it then," Steve said. "But it's clear to me now. They're obviously father and son. Can't you see how much they look alike?"

Clint and Bucky exchanged a look that clearly said they thought Steve was crazy.

"I gave you my word I wouldn't eat the nice one," Bucky said. "But if you're trying to guilt me out of eating the other guy by making him family to your-"

"He's his father!" Steve shouted. "Just look at him."

That was apparently the wrong thing to do because the angry human turned his attention to him, shouting and brandishing a stick while the younger human tried to hold him back.

"Now you've done it, Stevie," Bucky said with a sigh. He put some distance between him and the shoreline, moving just out of the human's throwing range.

"He's just trying to protect his son," Steve said, feeling a little of his irritation at the older human fade. "He thinks we're horrible monsters trying to eat his son and he's willing to fight us to keep him safe."

"All well and good," Clint said. "But that guy's been a jerk before he knew we had his son."

Steve shrugged. "Back then we were horrible monsters trying to eat him and he was just protecting himself."

There had to be some way Steve could prove himself to the other human, make him understand he was no threat to him or his son. Ah, maybe he could get through to him with a drawing. That had worked for the first human.

Steve picked up one of the sticks on the shoreline and the angry human immediately tensed up, moving in front of his son and bellowing at the top of his lungs.

"Steve!" Bucky shouted. "Get away from him. Can't you fucking-"

"Steve?" the younger human said loudly, an incredulous tone to his voice.

Bucky stared at him, whatever he had been about to say forgotten.

"That's right," Steve said. He put a hand to his chest. "Steve. My name is Steve."

"Steve!" the human exclaimed delightedly. He elbowed the other human and gestured to Steve.

The older man crossed his arms over his chest and muttered something under his breath while the younger human began speaking rapid-fire gibberish.

"What the hell?" Bucky swam forward cautiously. "Did that just happen?"

The younger man knelt down at the shoreline, shoving off his father's attempts to pull him back. He pointed a finger at himself. "Tony."

"Nice to meet you, Tony," Steve said with a wide grin. "This is Bucky." He clapped Bucky on the shoulder. "Bucky," he said again, slowly and carefully, so the human could hear every letter.

Tony regarded him for a long moment and then shrugged with a sheepish smile.

Steve's shoulders slumped. "Just for a minute, I thought we were communicating."

"You were," Bucky said. "Given a little time, I think you could get him speaking fluent mer."

"A little time?" Steve fought down the grin that threatened to break out. "Buck, do you mean it? He can stay awhile?"

"I said a little time," Bucky said gruffly. "Long enough for him to tell us where he lives, anyway. There's patches of land all over the place and we don't want to put him in some other human's territory."

Steve nodded solemnly. If human civilization operated at all like siren culture, the human could be attacked if he wound up in another pod's land.

"And the first moment he tells you he wants out of this place, you have to let him go. You got that, Steve?"

"Of course," Steve said. He wouldn't want the human to be miserable. As much as he would hate to see him go, he would never force him to stay.

"Good," Bucky said. "Now let's get rid of dear old dad so we can have an actual conversation with the guy."

"You can't do that," Steve protested with horror. "He's his father."

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, that came out wrong. I meant just shove him back in the other cave. Get him the hell out of here so he won't be interfering."

"And how are we going to explain that to Tony? For all he knows, you are taking his father away to eat him. And that's definitely how his dad will see it."

Bucky scowled. "Yeah, you're probably right. But there's no way we can get him talking with his dad hovering around, hating our guts." He stuck out his tongue in the older human's direction. "That's the problem, isn't it? We have to kick the dad out to teach him mer, but we can't get the dad out until he learns enough mer to understand why."

Steve slowly picked up the stick again, warily watching the older human for a reaction.

As expected, the man started ranting and raving again, but Tony shushed him, his focus on Steve's hand. He nodded his head and made a gesture for Steve to go on.

Steve first sketched out the current cave and added two human figures inside. He pointed first to Tony and then to his father.

Tony nodded slowly. "Tony," he said, pointing to himself. "Huwad," he said, pointing at his father.

"Okay, great," Steve said. "This is you and your father, Huwad. This is our cave right now." He started a sketch of the smaller cave and drew just Huwad's figure inside. "This is where we've been keeping your father."

Tony leaned forward and inspected the drawing. "Me?" he asked.

"Did you hear that, Buck?" Steve asked delightedly. "He's using actual words."

"Yeah, I heard," Bucky said. "Don't get too excited yet. It might mean something else in his language."

Steve cleared his throat. "This is your dad. Huwad."

Tony wrinkled his nose and shook his head vigorously. "Huwad."

Steve nodded. "Yes, your father." He jerked his head slightly in the scowling human's direction.

Tony shook his head again and drew the word out. "Huward."

"Oh!" Steve said. "Howard. His name's Howard."

Tony bobbed his head, face splitting into a wide grin.

"Right," Steve said. "This is Howard's cave." He carefully rubbed Howard's image out of the picture from the first cave. "And this is you, Tony."

Tony nodded. "Me."

"Yeah, that's right." Things were looking even brighter than Steve could have hoped.

Steve carefully drew a line between the two caves. "We're going to move your dad back into his old cave for, uh, safety reasons. But we'll make sure the two of you get to visit as much as you like." He drew another line back toward the big cave. "Either take you over to see him or take him here to see you." He drew a couple more lines and looked up at the human expectantly.

Tony sighed heavily and added several more lines.

"Of course," Steve said. "As often as you want." He traced over the lines again.

Tony's mouth twisted unhappily, but he nodded.

"Alright," Bucky said gleefully. "Clint, help me wrestle this guy back in the water."

"No way," Clint said. "I'm not touching that guy again. He bit me the last time."

"I can bite harder than he can," Bucky said pleasantly. "Now quit being a coward and help me out."

Clint muttered under his breath, but he slipped onto the shore behind the human, taking him by surprise. The human shouted and started struggling, but Clint quickly clapped a hand over his mouth and dove under the water.

Tony tilted his head to one side and regarded the little ripples of water for a moment and then shrugged.

"He's taking this surprisingly well," Steve said.

Bucky shrugged. "His dad's a jerk. Probably happy to get him out of his hair. You'd probably react the same way if the situations were reversed and one of us was being a pain in the tail and not letting you be friends with the awesome sirens."

Steve grinned. "Yeah, Buck. I'd have them take you away in a heartbeat if you were holding me back."

Bucky huffed and splashed water at him.

Tony cleared his throat and pointed to the drawing of the fish.

"Great idea," Bucky said. "I know Stevie's going to get carried away and want to spend hours and hours teaching you shit and we'll miss dinner. So I'm going to catch us a bunch of fish." Bucky pushed off from the shoreline and then stopped and turned back. "Stevie, tell him to get a fire started. I don't know why he doesn't have one going already. That's how he's going to be earning his keep. You tell him, Stevie, as long as he's staying with us, he's going to be making us those fire-warmed fish."

"I'll make sure to tell him," Steve said with a chuckle.

"And tell him to make one for Clint, too. He's an idiot, but I guess he deserves a little reward for putting up with the jerk. But just this once. Fuck-ups don't deserve special fish everyday."

And then, mercifully, Bucky dove under the water.

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he's a little crazy," Steve said with a chuckle. "You'll get used to him. But let's get started without him." He pointed to the drawing of the fish.`"This is a fish. Fish."

The human smiled and drew a couple weird shapes on the ground. "Fsh."

God, this was so easy. It would probably take only a day or two for Tony to start speaking fluent mer. And when the rest of the pod heard him speaking, they'd finally realize how intelligent humans were and they wouldn't want to eat people anymore. And Thor seemed like a reasonable, open-minded siren. Maybe when Thor visited the next time, Tony could have a talk with him and Thor could convince the rest of his pod that they shouldn't eat humans. And from there, spread the message through the rest of the siren world. And one day, all the sirens would be friendly with humans and-

Tony cleared his throat and impatiently tapped his stick against the ground.

"Sorry," Steve said. "Got a little carried away there." Bucky had always accused him of being a starry-eyed dreamer.

The human held out his hand.

Steve shook his head. "I don't have anything to give you. Bucky's bringing the fish."

The human wiggled his hand insistently and Steve slowly extended his own. His fingers were a lot longer than the human's, his nails were sharper, and his skin was paler. But when the human's hand closed around his, none of the differences mattered.


End file.
